Reading the Rest of This American Fly

The American Fly Fisher Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishzng Sampler

A photo from the Mary Orvis Marbury panels prepared for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1892: "Equinox Pond, 'The Edge of the Shadows."' Photo by James D. Way, Manchester, Vermont.

andwiched between the covers of this summer issue is the best water, he shrouded his favorite place with magic and mys- stuff of a sport and its place in the world. For the reader tery." That magic and mystery come through in Wargin's pho- Snew to thinking about fly-fishing history, here is a taste of tos, selected from the book. what anglers have been going on about, with examples that When a fishing title hits its 350-year mark in the world, we span four centuries. should probably make a note of it. In "Contemplating The A seventeenth-century book by Walt011 and Cotton. The Compleat Angler: A Remarkable Anniversary," special projects World's Columbian Exposition of 1892. A writer's secrecy sur- staffer Sara Wilcox hits a lovely note in her description of "one rounding his fabled favorite water and the sense of place that of the most reprinted works in the English language, trailing comes from intimacy. Homer's artistic representation of the only the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, and John Bunyan's sport. One twenty-first-century philosopher's musings on Pilgrim's Progress." She gives a little background on Isaak today's fly fisher and how sport and angler have evolved in the Walton's book and its editions and printings, noting that it is face of technology and lifestyle. the fifth edition, when Charles Cotton came on board, that is And there are pretty pictures, too. usually reprinted today. This Gallery piece includes photos of In "Mary Orvis Marbury and the Columbian Exposition," some of the editions we have in our collection. It begins on Richard G. Bell offers some general background of that his- page 18. toric Chicago event, then plunges directly into the story of "A Portrait of the New Fly Fisher" is one man's take on a new

Mary Orvis Marbury and the Orvis exhibit. The hinged, breed. Gordon M. Wickstrom addresses changesV in the svort wood-framed panels allowed the viewer to flip through exam- over the Iast half century: who's on the water, where they fish, ples of Marbury's flies (her Favorite Flies and Their Histories how much (or how little) time they have, and how technology was published the same year), as well as to take in photograph- and lifestyle changes have affected what's happening on the ic scenes of fishing locations from all over the United States. The stream. His essay can be found on page 21. exhibit is now in the permanent collection of the American Trustee John Mundt returns in the role of book reviewer to Museum of Fly Fishing. Bell's article begins on page 2. give us his take on Robert J. Demarest's Traveling with Winslow This spring, Huron River Press published Voelker's Pond: A Homer: America's Premier Artist/Angler. In preparing this Robert Traver Legacy, by photographer Ed Wargin with essays book, Demarest traveled to the places Homer painted and by James McCullough. For our journal, McCullough has writ- fished, and photographed the same scenes. The review begins ten "Secret, Storied Landscape: John Voelker's Frenchman's on page 23. Pond," which begins on page lo. In it, he provides us with a In April, the Museum presented its 2003 Heritage Award to brief background of the Michigan Supreme Court judge who, writer and publisher Nick Lyons. Coverage of the event with under the pen name Robert Traver, gave us works from photos by Enrico Ferorelli can be found on page 32. Anatomy of a Murder to Anatomy of a Fisherman. Frenchman's Something in the summer sampler should suit your taste. Pond was another pseudonym-this one for Voelker's favorite Fish around a little. It's all good. Upper Peninsula water. McCullough notes that Voelker's con- tributions to the sport contradict the current trends: "Rather than directing and instructing anglers, mapping the way to the American THEAMERICAN MUSEUM OF FLY FISHING Fly Fisher Preserving the Heritage Journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing of Fly Fishing SUMMER 2003 VOLUME 29 NUMBER 3 TRUSTEES E. M. Bakwin Nancy MacKinnon Michael Bakwin Walter T. Matia Mary Orvis Marbury and the Columbian Exposition .... 2 Foster Bam William C. McMaster, M.D. Richard G. Bell Pa~tlelaBates James Mirenda Steven Bcnardete Johll Mundt Secret, Storied Landscape: Paul Bofinger David Nichols John Voelker's Frenchman's Pond ...... lo Duke Buchan 111 Wayne Nordberg Mickey Callanen Michael H. Osborne James McCullough with photos by Ed Wargin Peter Corbin Stephen M. PCC~ Blalte I>rexler Leigh H. Pcrkins Gallery: Contemplating The Compleat Angler: William J. Dreyer Allan K. Poole A Remarkable Anniversary ...... 18 Christopher Garcia John Rano Sara Wilcox George R. Gibson 111 Ro~erRiccardi Gardner I.. Grant William Salladin Chris (;rusekc Ernest Schwiebert Notes and Comments: A Portrait of the New Fly Fisher . . 21 James Hardman Kobert G. Scott Gordon M. Wickstrom Lynn L. Hitschler James A. Spendiff Arthur Kaemmer, M.D. John Swan Book Review: A Homeric Odyssey ...... 23 Woods King 111 Richard G. Tisch John Mundt Karl K. Kuehner 111 David H. Walsh James E. Lutton 111 James C. Woods Contributors ...... 24 TRUSTEES EMERITI 26 Charles R. Eichel David B. Ledlic Museum News...... G. Dick Finlay Leon L. Martuch 141. Michael Fitzgerald Keith C. Russell Heritage Award ...... 32 William I-Ierrick Paul Schullery Robert N. Johnson Stephen Sloan ON THE COVER: From the Mary Orvis Marburypanels: "Vermont Trout." OFFICERS Chairman of the Bonrri Robert G. Scott President David H. Walsh

Vice I-)reside!?ts Lynn L. Hitschler Tlie Amrrirnri Fly FirIii.r.(ISSN oXXq-ij62) is published Michael B. Osborne four rirncs a year by the Museum .IT PO. Rox 42, hlanchcstcr,\'errnont ojzjq. James A. Syendiff Publication datcs dre wlnler, apnng, qummcr, and fall. i\.lrmbrr\hip dues include the ~o\tof the Treos~~rer James Mirenda jnurnal ($15) and arc tax deductible as pn,vided tirr by I.lw. Membrrahip rates arc listed ~n the back of each asur. Secretary James C. Woods All letters, manuscripts, photographs, and material5 intended for publication in thc journal ahuuld he scnr to the Museum. The Muscum and journal are not rrsponsible for unsolicited manuscripts, drawings, phr>tagraphic STAFF malenal, or memorabilia. The Museum cannot accept rcsponslbility fix rt.itumcnts dnd mtrrpietatinns thar arc ~,hoilythr author's. tinrolic~tedmanu\crlpt\ cannot bc rcrur~icdunleis pmtagc is prav~dcd.Contributions to Tit? Executive Director Gary Tdnner Anirriian Fly Piilwr. arc to bc co~~s~deredgrntuitoils rind thc property of the Muscuni unless otheiwi\e requcstcd Events &Membership Diana Siebold by the contrlhutcrr. Al.ticlcs appc~rnngin thir ji,urnal .ire absrracrcd and indexed in Hi.

POSTMASTER: Send addre$\ changes to Tllr A,iir!icnr~Fly F~iliel:PO. Rox 42. Manihr\ter, \~e~.monrujzj4. THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Editor Kathleen Achor Desiyn & IJroduction John Price Copy Editor Sarah May Clarkson We welcome contributions to The American Fly Fisher. Before making a submission, please review our Contributor's Guidelines on our website (www.amff.com), or write to request a copy. The Museum cannot accept responsibility for statements and interpretations that are wholly the author's. Mary Orvis Marbury and the Columbian Exposition by Richard G. Bell

Mary Orvis Marbury. Her father, Charles Orvis the founder of the Orvis Company, said this of her: "In time, one of my family viewed with favor the idea of learning to tiepies." Much of what we regard as important aboutpies today, what we call them and how they are classified, comes directly from Marbury. From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Photo and illustration research by Allison Bell of Northampton, Massachusetts

HE WORLD'SCOLUMBIAN EXPOSITION was created by an being traversed, explored, staked out for claim or homestead, Act of Congress on 25 April 1890. Section 1 of this and then bypassed by the rolling tide of American expansion. Tenabling act stated as follows: For almost three hundred years, the frontier had been the dominant fact of American history and the dominant theme of Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the its culture. By 1890, the year when the last agonizing spasm of United States of America, in Congress assembled, that an exhibi- tion of arts, industries, manufactures, and products of the soil, the Plains Indian wars flickered and died at Wounded Knee, mine and sea shall be inaugurated in the year 1892, in the City of the frontier was pronounced clo~ed.~We had f~llfilledour Chicago, in the State of Illinois, as hereinafter provided.1 national destiny. We knew, geographically, what we were and how far we extended in every direction, and had inordinate It was short notice for an undertaking of such magnitude. pride in what we had done to make the country. It was time to The Exposition was to mark the four hundredth anniversary of collect its wonders and show them off to the world. Columbus's discovery of America and celebrate the progress of Interestingly, it was also a time that marked the growth of an civilization in the new world. The time was propitious. By emerging conservation movement. Much of wild America had 1869, the railroads had already stretched their thin, slender been transformed, and it was becoming widely understood bands of steel across the country. The vast open spaces were that what was left was both finite and fragile. Thus, in 1892, the

2 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER OPEN NOW EVERY RAIN 017 SNtNE :

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-- ALL ROADS LEAD TO BUFFALO BILL'S

VOTED A WORLD-BEATER

Looking down the Midway toward George Ferris's enormous httrcri<,nn l onlio).~,Xerirrur wheel, which could carry sixty people to a car. A "captive bal- Yaq*!crm Bio I3mslc <:nBnliero, Mt.riau~t loon" is shown on the left, safely tethered to the ground. From Ilsrnlir. nail James W Shepp and Daniel B. Shepp, Shepp's World's Fair 0tlte1% Photographed-Being a Collection of Original Copyrighted iBRbII1 I)ITERIAnOKAZ 116616.11 BRILL BI UKIYiD STATES. EKE. Photographs Authorized and Permitted by the Management LiSH, fRiIEK, nao urn. of the World's Columbian Exposition-Published by Globe MAN &UIDITtS. ..,ins i $.i*.rr! i.n;,'i *Wd Bible Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill.; Philadelphia, Pa. (1893). 1,. ,.!, ,.: 10 ,~ss'o,\ ,. ,st.,~ 1:Wv" 3.3. ,. r,vn,,*, h,b~#>,lt.&

i..,'.l!!. ;.,i. m., I,.,?.* 4'8". sii *mi William "Buffalo Bill" Cody sought to exploit the Exposition's crowd appeal by setting up his Wild West show adjacent to the access Midway. From Rand, Stat~onsat 62d and 69d Str~ats. kDMISSION 50 CENTS. McNally & Co.'s A Week at the Fair (Chicago, 1893).

Adirondack Park was created in New York State.3 and across in the miracle of Edison's new electric light. This he did on 1 the country in California, the Sierra Club was founded. May 1893 to the cheers of 150,000 spectators. It was simply A commission to be appointed by the president of the breathtaking, and it dazzled the world.5 United States was assigned the task of organizing the Imagine a five-month Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, Coney Exposition and implementing the Congressional mandate.4 It Island holiday, and Olympics rolled into one. It included did its work diligently. Notwithstanding the need for an addi- majestic white buildings for generic classes of exhibition, with tional half year of preparation, a magical new city within a multiacre floor space, such as the Machinery, Electricity, and city-more than two hundred buildings of all sizes-quickly Agricultural Buildings. The United States Government blossomed on Chicago's Lake Michigan waterfront. A midway, Building itself occupied a +acre site. The nations of the world exceeding half a mile in length, led visitors in from Cottage were invited, and seventy-seven attended as exhibitors, eigh- Grove Avenue to the main exhibition site. In all, the site was an teen of them having their own exclusive building sites. Thirty- enormous 633 acres. To see everything quickly, it was estimat- six states of the union had their own buildings as well, as did ed that it would take about three weeks, and one would have to the combined territories of Arizona, New Mexico, and walk 150 miles. It would be the first city in history that, when Oklahoma. Private industry sites and exhibitions were encour- President Grover Cleveland pressed a switch, would be bathed aged, and the response was equally enthusiastic.

SUMMER 2003 3 The lone" midwav served as an access promenade from downtown Chicago to the exhibition area and to the major buildings that were clustered around a lagoon carved out of Lake Michigan. Spectators were lured into the midway by wonders and adventures ranging from a Lapland Village and an Electric Scenic Theater to a lo-ton Canadian cheese and a life-sized, chocolate Venus de Milo. William "Buffalo Bill" Cody- himself not an exhibitor but no stranger" to razz-ma-tazz-shrewdly sought to capitalize on the Exposition's drawing power. He rented lots just south of the midway, where he constructed an eigh- teen-thousand-seat covered grandstand. Cody offered, in addition to his usual cowboy and Indian show, both "Genuine Russian Cossacks from the Caucasus" and "Genuine Arabs from the Desert." Stationed at the western end of the The Fisheries Building, described as an "architectural poem," was situated on a midway was an international military lagoon carved out of Lake Michigan. Its western satellite wing was the site of the encampment where soldiers of the visit- Orvis Exhibit. From "Oficial Views of the Mbrld's Columbian Exposition," ineV nations could strut their stuff. Department of Photography, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Ill., 1893. Almost directly opposite, a mile and a half away, was a replica of the battleship U.S.S. Illinois riding at anchor in Lake Michigan. Perhaps grimly foreshadow- ing the future, the Krupp Works from Essen, Germany, paraded the top of its new line: an enormous cannon that could throw a 1-ton projectile well beyond the horizon. You could do almost anything and indulge almost every appetite. If you tired of the endless and wondrous elhibits, perhaps a dip in the natatorium would revive you, or an enjoyable ride on the electric train, the world's first. Floor plan of Fisheries Building designed by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb. Better still was G. W. Ferris's gigantic From Rand, McNally & Co.'s A Week at the Fair (Chicago, 1893). wheel. Mounted vertically, it was 250 feet in diameter and packed sixty people to a car for the heart-stopping ride of their lives. For a rest, one could listen to live concerts from New York by way of the magic of Mr. Bell's telephone. Or, if the missus stayed at home, one might sneak a peek at "Little Egypt" behind her diaphanous veils, doing a "genuine native muscle dance," soon known to the regulars as the "hootchy-kootchy." Re- freshment concessions were everywhere, such as that of J. H. Dilworth & Co., which offered something called "Tem- perance Drinks" for those so inclined. In short, there was something for everyone. "Sell the house if necessary and come," one awestruck spectator wrote home. "You must see this fair."6 And come they did. In all, twenty-five million spectators were drawn to the White City before it closed in October The Krupp Works of Essen, Germany, paraded its new line of 1893, with more than two million show- cannon, capable of hurling a 1 -ton projectile over the horizon. ing up during each of the last three From Shepp's World's Fair Photographed (1893).

4 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER weeks. It was a rip-roaring, resounding success, worth it even if, as one tired spectator said, " . . . it did take all of the burial money."' One of the major exhibition sites was the Fisheries Building; after all, the enabling act specifically provided for exhibitions of" . . . products of the . . . sea."' It faced upon the lagoon, directly opposite the U.S. Government Building. It was designed by architect Henry Ives Cobb, in what was referred to as the Spanish Romanesque style. Light, airy, and appealing, it was quite properly described as an "architectural poem."9 It consisted of a central edifice 365 feet in Charles F. Orvis, founder of the Orvis length and 165 feet wide, with two poly- Mary Orvis Marbury at herfly-tying gon satellites, each 133 feet in diameter, Company. From the collection of the vise. From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. attached by handsome arcades at its east American Museum of Fly Fishing. and west ends. In all. it was more than 1,000 feet in combined length, with more than 7 acres of floor irea. The Congressional mandate was broadly construed. and the building" had both fresh- and saltwater circulating capacity to display the wonders of not only the sea, but of the lakes, rivers, and streams of the world as well. The easterly poly- gon had both a fresh- and saltwater aquarium. In addition, the commercial business of fishing was featured along with sportfishing, and some space was specifically reserved in the westerly poly- gon for private sporting tackle makers to display their wares. One of these was the Charles F. Orvis Company of Man- Chester, Vermont.

The six young ladies who went to work for Mary in 1876 and started the Orvis fly-tying operation. From the collection of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Charles F. Orvis was an archetvoical, L Yankee businessman-craftsman. Born ill Manchester, Vermont, in 1831, he was technically adept, thoughtful, and thor- ough. He tinkered with toys and clocl

Orvis was usingL. bamboo bv the late 1870s. The early Orvis products were of a standard of oualitv that would be the hallmark of t6e cobpany to the present day. By 1884, Orvis was selling rods and reels and other fishing tackle far beyond Manchester by mail-order catalog. In 1893, the company was probably as well U.S. Fish Commission Exhibit in the central hall of the Fisheries Building. known for itstrout fliesAasfor ahy other From Shepp's World's Fair Photographed (1893). product and was anxious to expand this

SUMMER 2003 5 product line to national markets through cata- log distribution.'' By the third quarter of the nineteenth centu- ry, fly fishing had grown in popularity. It was no longer just an eastern sport. The movement of the American population west, the penetration of wild areas by the railroads, and the growing circulation of the sporting magazines and cata- logs like Orvis's contributed to the sport's national appeal. Consequently, the demand for effective flies was also rising. That was the good news. The bad news was that there was no rhvme or reason to the standards of American fly pat- terns, and different regions of the country zest- fully pursued their own imaginations. There could be no assurance that the standard patterns effective on the Battenkill would be even recog- nized on the Beaverkill, much less the Brule. Statue of the Republic in the foreground and the main basin of the Charles Orvis sought nothing less than to orga- lagoon. Designed by Daniel Chester French, the statue was described nize and standardize fly patterns across the by Rand McNally ei. Co. in A Week at the Fair (Chicago, 1893) as ': . . country. He explained his problem and his pro- impressive in its altitude and grandeur." A giant statue of Columbia posed solution to a friend in 1885: by Frederick Mac Monnies rose at the opposite end. Machinery Hall is on the right, followed by the Electricity and Mines Building. From I had for many years made fishing rods and reels, (1893). and in filling orders for the same, had frequent Shepp's World's Fair Photographed requests for other tackle to be sent in the same box. I then ordered, to supply these demands, small quantities of flies from dealers-first ordering a complete line of samples with the names attached. These I received, but soon found it utterly impossible to duplicate my orders. I was continual- ly disappointed by the substituting of other flies or sizes than the ones I had ordered, and in turn, I was forced to disappoint and apologize to my cus- tomers. I then thought that if there was any way out of this dilemma, caused by a confusion in names and a carelessness in copying exactly the pattern fly, I should seek it out. In time, one of my family viewed with favor the idea of learning to tie flies. To this end, I employed one of the best fly tiers in the city to come to nly house and stay until he had imparted his knowl- edge and skill, and when I felt that we were compe- An artist's view of the Exposition froin Lake Miclligan. The site tent, I advertised to fill orders exactly in accordance encompassed 633 acres, with more than 200 buildings constructed with a customer's wishes." especially for the event. Marketing piece for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago (1893).

Mary Orvis was born in 1856, the year the com- pany was founded, and was the only daughter among Charles Orvis's four children. She had shown an early interest in flies, and Orvis had brought John Haily, an expert fly tyer, up from New York to teach her the art. Mary married John Marbury in 1874, but the marriage did not last, and they quickly separated. Sadly, their only child died in infancy. When the time came to find someone to take charge of the company's expanded fly opportunities, Orvis had no hesitation in turning to Mary. With six female assistant fly tyers as her staff, she went to work in 1876 in the second story of the white clapboard company building, which still stands on Union Street in Manchester.12 To understand his market. and to helu his mar- ket understand the company, Charles Orvis had the idea of corresponding with fishermen around the country. Hundreds of letters were sent asking The Mary Orvis Marbury panels the recipients to comment on their favorite flies as displayed in the Fisheries Building. for their regions of the country. An astounding 201 Photo from the American Museum of Fly Fishing. resvonses were received, from or with resoect to thirty-eight states altogether, ranging from Maine to California, as well as Canada. These were care- fully cataloged by Mary. They answered the ques- tions asked, and more, for fishermen are a loqua- cious lot. Some, predictably, could not refrain from elaboration. W. David "Norman" Tomlin of Duluth, Minnesota, for instance, was soon into one of his favorite fish stories: "He ran out thirty yards of line before showing any sign of his size; as I checked him, he came to the surface, salaamed, and started on a new "gait . . . " '3 Mary presided over the process that-as Charles Orvis had ho~ed-incorvorated these correspondents into an extended fly-fishing fam- ily. C. S. Wells of Victoria, Texas, shrewdly antici- pated the end product when he said, "Your idea of collecting information in regard to the use of flies in different sections is a good one, as, if the mate- rial thus received is compiled and published, it will be very interesting reading for anglers."'4 Compiled and published it was, in book form under Mary's thoughtful and artistic supervi- sion. It was, and- remains, a masterpiece. Favorite Flies and Their Histories first appeared in 1892, the year the Exposition was supposed to open, and went through eight more printings by 1896 (and two more since then). It cataloged with historical and technical ~recision231 "" trout and salmon fly patterns and an additional 58 bass patterns. It is widely held that the book, more than anything else, both standardized fly From the Mary Orvis Marbury panels: Looking out of the patterns and set the standards for future devel- Valley to El Capitan, 3,300 feet high. Yosemite National Park, oprnent.l5 What gives the book its special and California. Photo by I. W Tabor, San Francisco. lasting appeal are the thirty-two color plates of fly illustrations in vivid chromolithography. The flies, tied under Mary's supervision and used as models for these illustrations, are care- fully preserved today at the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Vermont. They alone are worth the trip. Their discovery by Paul Schullery deserves retelling: One day, not long after my arrival at the American Museum of Fly Fishing as its new director, I was exploring some of the shelves of the collection's storage room. I came across a large, handsomely made but obviously aged box-cedar it appeared to be-that didn't seem to be a tackle box or any other type I might have recognized. Carefully lift- ing the hinged top, I saw what seemed to be the top end of dozens of small mortised picture frames. Each end had written on it, by hand, some phrase, such as BASS DD or TROUT Q. When I slid one from the box, I saw one of the, if not the, greatest treasures ill the history of American fly fishing: the original flies, mounted in appropriate order, from which the chromolithographs in Mary's book had been made.16 It was a natural progression for the Orvis Company to become an exhibitor at the World's Columbian Exposition. Space had been specifically reserved for tackle manufacturers in the west polygon of the Fisheries Building. Besides, publication of Favorite Flies and Their From the Mary Orvis Marburypanels: Mr. Stannardi Histories had given Orvis a new level of nation- morning catch on Eaton Creek, Montana. al prominence, and there could be no better Largest 11 lbs., 6G oz. Photo by Major Eaton.

SUMMER 2003 7 place from which to exploit that than the Exposition in the City of Light. The Orvis exhibit would, of course, include and fea- ture Mary's elegant flies. The exhibit consisted of wood-framed panels containing fishing photographs mounted on both sides. Each panel, measur- ing approximately 29% inches tall by 24 inches wide, included a selection of meticu- lously tied Orvis flies. The panels were mounted vertically, in groups, and were hinged around a central post or spine and turned for viewing as one would turn the pages of a book. Forty of these are preserved at the American Museum of Fly Fishing, and they are displayed as twenty two-sided pan- els, ten over ten. Generally, each panel con- tains region-specific photographs and flies, but this is not uniform, and some contain photographs and flies from several regions. The photographs, enhanced by handwritten captions, are all more than one hundred years old. They are fading now. Not all were of high quality by modern standards to begin with, but allowances must be made for the state of the art at that time. Notwithstanding, some are striking and rep- resent the high state of naturalist photogra- phy in the 1890s. In all, fifteen photographers have been identified, including William Henry Jackson and Seneca Ray Leonard. Their professional addresses range from Bangor, Maine, to San Francisco, California, giving a sense of the range and popularity of fly fishing at that time. The sites of the photographs range from the familiar (especially to the Orvis family) banks of the Battenkill in Vermont to the Beaverkill, Upper Ausable Lake, and the From the Mary Orvis Marbury panels: Through the Ausable Chasm, Ausable Saranac River in New York; Parmachenee River, New York. Photo by Seneca Ray Stoddard, Glens Falls, New York. Lake in Maine; the Nipigon and St. Marguerite in Ontario; the Brule in Wisconsin; the St. Croix in Minnesota; the Frying Pan and the Rio Grande at Wagon Wheel Gap in Colorado; Yellowstone Lake and Gibbon Falls in Wyoming; Eaton Creek on the upper Missouri in Montana; the Clackamas and Willamette in Oregon; Lake Tahoe and the Merced in California; and finally, in a long reach for largemouth bass, to Sebastian Creek and the St. John's River in Florida. The photographs are an impres- sive contemporary view of wild America at the turn of the twentieth century. But they are much more than that: they are a nostal- gic memory of how things used to be in our sport, before the full advent of the automo- bile and the strip mall. It is a mistake to think these lovely scenes were, even then, totally unspoiled; they are not. Lumbering had long left its scars on many watersheds. Unregulated fishing and pollution had dec- imated native brook trout populations in From the Mary Orvis Marbury panels: the Adirondacks and Catskills. But com- Gibbon Falls, Gibbon River, Yellowstone National Park. The fisherman shown pared with today, compared with the envi- here and his two companions reported catching 410 trout in two hours. ronmental assaults of the years after 1893, these photographs give anglers a sense of how glorious it was when our American sport was young. That these photographs are graced by Mary Orvis Marbury's elegant flies makes them even more endearing, for her flies are, indeed, the jewels in the crown at the American Museum of Fly Fishing. r-

ENDNOTES

1. 26 Stat. 62 (1890), Fifty-first Congress Sess. I Ch. 156, 25 April 1890; hereinafter called the "enabling act." 2. Frederick J. Turner, The Significaizce of the Frontier in American History (Readex Microprint, 1966), 199. 3. William Chapman White, Adirondaik Country (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1985), 218. Constitutional protection of the Forest Preserve came in 1894. Ibid., 218-19. 4. The Commission-described in Section 3 of the enabling act-consisted of two appointees from each of the states and territories, and two from the District of Columbia, as well as eight at-large appointees. Interestingly, Section 6 of the act also "authorized and required" a board of "lady managers in such numbers and to perform such duties as the Commission may pre- scribe." That section went on to provide that this board could appoint one or more members to all committees authorized to award prizes for exhibits ". . . which may be produced in whole or in part by female labor." That women's issues, suffrage or otherwise, were in the air is further demonstrated by the Wonlen's Building at the Exposition, designed by Sophia G. Hayden of Boston, a graduate of MIT. This displayed such wonders as a model kitchen with a tile floor and a gas stove, which prompted the observation by Mrs. Potter Palmer, presi- dent of the Board of Lady Managers and noted Chicago From the Mary Orvis Marbury panels: Fisherwomen on the society doyenne, that "women as a sex have been liber- Rio Grande River at Wagon Wheel Gap, Colorado. Photographer: ated." Princess Eulalia of Spain, the king's aunt, tried to prove this claim by smoking cigarettes in public (from William Henry Jackson, Denver, Colorado. National Geographic Society, We Americans (Wash- ington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1975))296. 5. Ibid., 294. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 8. Enabling act, Section I. 9. John J. Flynn, Ofticial Guide to World's Colwmbian Exposition (Chicago: The Columbian Guide Company, 1893)~59. The same source reports that "the details of ornamentation [were] worked out in a realistic manner after various fish and marine forms." See also Rand McNally & Co., A Week at the Fair (1893), 162. lo. Paul Schullery, American Fly Fishing: A History (New York: Nick Lyons Books, 1987), 67-68; Ernest Schweibert, Trout (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1978),930-31, 99 6. 11. Schwiebert, Trout, 996, 998. It is to Mary that we owe the graceful practice of naming all flies, rather than assigning them numbers, a competing method that might have otherwise gained ascendancy. 12. Schullery, American Fly Fishing, 75; see also the foreword by Silvio Calabi in Mary Orvis Marbury, Favorite Flies and Their Histories (Secaucus, N.J.: The Wellfleet Press, 1988). U. Marbury, Favorite Flies and Their Histories, 369, 371. 14. Ibid., 423. 15. Schullery, American Fly Fishing: A History, 75. 16. Ibid.

From the Mary Orvis Marburypanels: Bassfishing in Lake George, St. John's River, Florida. Photographer: William Henry Jackson, Denver, Colorado.

SUMMER 2003 9 Secret, Storied Landscape: John Voelker's Frenchman's Pond by James McCullough photos by Ed Wargin

F EVER A MAN loved a landscape, if befriended John Voelker after profiling contradict the current trends in our ever a man was transfixed-we might him at Frenchman's for his "On the sport. Rather than directing and in- Ieven say bewitched-by fishing his Road" series, and in the end Kuralt said structing anglers, mapping the way to favorite water, then the late John he was "about the nearest thing to a great the best water, he shrouded his favorite Donaldson Voelker, pen name Robert man [he'd] ever known."l place with magic and mystery. He Traver, was that man, and his fabled Unlike most of fly fishing's luminar- emphasized fishing's joyous unpre- "Frenchman's Pond" (a private brook ies, Voelker did not invent new fly pat- dictability, its difficulty, and the pleasure trout backwater somewhere in Michi- terns. ("Far from being able to tie a fly, I of the pursuit-not of ever larger species gan's rugged Upper Peninsula) was the am barely able to unzip one."2) He did in the far reaches of the globe, but of place. not host casting clinics, design innova- small, wild brook trout in his local To readers of 1950s best-sellers and tive equipment, write where-tolhow- waters. He spun stories he called "yarns" fly-fishing literature, and to classic film tolwhen-to exposCs about exotic rivers, that retain the mythological status of the buffs, the author Robert Traver may or conduct empirical studies of ento- secretive creatures inhabiting his fisher- need no introduction, but others may mology designed to help the uninitiated man's Shangri-la. And unlike the not know his real name. Charles Kuralt catch fish. His contributions, in fact, authoritative bravado of some outdoor

THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER writers, he reminded us by his example Fishing (The Lyons I'rcss, ~OOI),Lyons to be humble, to move slowly, to appre- cxplains that Voelker's writing "reminds ciate the wonders of the landscapi,md us-of his enduring values . . T makes us without saying so directly, instructed us laugh a bit more at ourselves and our fel- to find peace with the world through the low fly fishers, and invites us not to turn patient act of casting. On his pond, he'd this happy pastime into a jargon-ridden erected a short bridge on which he cult."4 placed two church pews: invitations for Voelker's grandparents emigrated weary fishermen to take solace. He was from Germany in 1843 to establish brew- what Nick Lyons called, "a poet of the eries in the tough and remote Upper near at hand,"3 a man in love with his Peninsula copper mining towns of native land, the rough-hewn waterways Ontonagon and Negaunee, where Voel- of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In his ker's father would eventually operate a introduction to the posthumous collec- tavern when he was not hunting or fish- I tion of Voelker favorites, Traver on ing. Born in 1903 in nearby Ishpeming,

SUMMER 2003 Voelker learned early what he later called later married Grace Taylor from Oak the fishing "sins" of his father, which Park, Illinois, and soon after took a posi- included a lack of restraint, a bamboo tion in a large firm in Chicago. But he pole, and live bait. As a boy, he'd assail could not stand the oppressive, entry- local streams, returning home with level job or urban life, so returned with twenty or thirty trout at a time. "When I his family to the Upper Peninsula, where was a young man there were trout every- he was elected district attorney, the first where," Voelker said, "You could hardly Democrat elected there since the age of drop a bucket in a well without coming dirt, and where he began writing under up with a trout."5 Though he never gave the name Robert Traver, a combination up eating his big fish, something the age of his mother's maiden name and the of catch and release does not condone, name of an older brother lost in World the sins he learned from his father would War I. find special dispensation once he took He was reelected six times as prosecu- up the fly rod and the pen. tor, finally losing a race and returning to After high school and two years at private practice in 1951. Then in 1952, he Marquette's Northern Normal College, defended an Army lieutenant accused of Voelker made his way from this distant murdering the owner of a bar in Big Bay, region of the state, 500 or so miles south just north of Marquette, a case that to Ann Arbor where he nearly failed out, would change his life forever, becoming then in 1928 earned a University of the basis of his novel, Anatomy of a Michigan law degree. There he met and Murder. In December 1956, Anatomy was

12 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER accepted for publication, and in the same weekend Voelker was named to the Michigan Supreme Court, becoming officially appointed in January 1957 by Governor G. Mennen Williams. He wrote more than loo decisions during his three-year term, but all the while his novel was climbing the best-seller list, where it remained for two years and was soon turned into an Academy Award- winning film directed by Otto Premin- ger and starring Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, and George C. Scott. Impressive as &ey are, his political, legal, and literary successes did not i&mortalize ~oelkLrin the world of fly fishing; rather, it was his willingness to abanLon them. At the height of his power-of fame as an author and influ-

SUMMER 2003 13 instead to his simple home in the rugged Upper Peninsula and to Frenchman's Pond, devoting the rest of his life to his passions: fishing from spring to fall and writing about fishing all winter, a rou- tine that produced the fly-fishing classics Trout Madness, Anatomy of a Fisherman, and Trout Magic. His writing was recog- nized over the years with the Arnold Gingrich Award, the Theodore Gordon Fly Fishers Award, and the Cranbrook Writers Guild Medal of Honor, and he was named "Angler of the Year" in 1986 by Rod and Reel magazine. Power and fame did not appeal to Voelker, who loved the pursuit of reclu- sive brook trout vreciselv because. as he observes in his famous passage, "Testa- ment of a Fisherman." trout "cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience."7

THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER To this day, Voelker's Pond has retain- world that led Voelker to step down from ed what writer Jerry Dennis calls a his post as justice on Michigan's "semi-mythical" status,s seen firsthand Supreme Court, take up his fly rod, and only by Voelker, his family, a few friends, flee the "baying hounds of success." and a few invitees, many of whom have, No. There will be no tours. Nor like the judge himself, passed on. Until should there be. now, Voelker fans have only had There is, however, a new book that glimpses of the legendary pond: a few was published in May, which honors the frames in Anatomy of a Fisherman, the man's life by illuminating the place that brief Kuralt profde from his CBS "On entranced him. Voelker's Pond: A Robert the Road" series, and two short and rare Traver Legacy (Huron River Press, 2003) fdms, one about the man as writer, the is a collection of fourteen essays and 130 other as fisherman. For most, French- evocative images that guide readers on a man's has been conjured up in the mind firsthand tour through a rugged land- from the deft descriptions Voelker hand- scape to Voelker's humble cabin and the ed down in his prose. tannin-rich waters that were the subject But with the centennial of the of his fly-fishing classics. author's birthday in June-festivals and Many of Voelker's fans have searched ceremonies planned in Marquette near for his pond, fruitlessly. But like all great his hometown of Ishpeming-Traver fishermen, Voelker would not "kiss and fans from around the world will have tell" on his favorite waters. He wrote their first full gaze into the enchanted often and at length about the pond, but

SUMMER 2003 through the years he only divulged its proximity to the Escanaba River, a 1sprawling watershed whose tributaries amble from a crow's flight below Lake Superior through thousands of acres of dense forest and impenetrable swamp before ending in Lake Michigan. Still, to 1 be sure, Voelker named his hallowed water "Frenchman's . . . -for that is not its name."9 In case anyone wonders, Voelker's Pond: A ~obertTraver Legacy in no way reveals location-in fact, it beseeches readers to seek their own sacred places. Nor does it detract from the mvthical iualities of the pond; Ed wargin's' richly hued is pure a;. ~eadeis 1 will find themselves captivated by the - images, peering into ioelker's world,

16 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Traver Country, welcomed for a time 5. Quoted in Jerry Dennis, A Place On the onto the legendary waters that to this Water: An Angler's Refections on Home (New day remain a private refuge for his YO&: St. Martin's Press, 199311 105. 6. Quoted in Dixie Franklin, "Ever the family and friends. Fisherman," Michigan Natural Resources - Magazine, MarchlAprili988,ii. 7. Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, ENDNOTES 19641, lo. 8. Dennis, "A Legacy of Fish Stories and Trout'" 1. Quoted in Robert Traver, Traver on Fishinx (Guilford, Conn.: The Lyons Press, 9' Traver, Anatomy 'fa 96 zooil.-kii., ,and ,,Terrv Dennis. "A ~egacv",of Fish Stories and Brook Trout," New York Times, Outdoors, Sunday, z September zooi. I I 2. Quoted in TO^ Carney, "Peninsula Voelker'sPond: A Robert Traver Legacy, by pho- Profiles: John Voelker, With Fly Rod, Pen and ~~~~l pad; upper~i~hj~~~ outdoor journal, McCullough, was published by Huron River vol. 4,issue 1, JulyIAugust zooz, 11. Press (Chelsea, Michigan, 2003, $45). Its 144 3. Quoted in Dennis, "A Legacy of Fish pages include 130 color photographs. Stories and Brook Trout." 4. Traver, Traver on Fishzng, xx.

SUMMER 2003 17 18 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER GALLERY Contemplating The Compleat Angler: A Remarkable Anniversary by Sara Wilcox

ark Twain once said that a classic is "some- thing that everybody wants to have read and M nobody wants to read."l I suspect many anglers would suggest placing a picture of Isaak Walton's The Compleat Angler next to that definition if it appeared in a dictionary. The methods it describes are outdated, the science is at times ques- tionable, and the prose can be difficult for the mod- ern reader to wrap his or her brain around. Yet not only is The Compleat Angler celebrating the 350th anniversary of its first printing in 2003, but it is also one of the most reprinted works in the English lan- guage, trailing only the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, and John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Crafted in the form of a dialogue and full of bucol- ic imagery, The Compleat Angler chronicles Piscator's attempt to teach Venator not only how to fish, but how to be a fisherman: " . . .but he that hopes to be a good Angler must not only be an inquiring, search- ing, observing wit, but he must bring a large measure of hope and patience, and a love and propensity to the art itself; but having once got and practiced it, then doubt not but Angling will prove to be so pleas- ant, that it will prove to be like virtue, a reward to it~elf."~Indeed, fly-fishing historian Gordon Wickstrom noted that The Compleat Angler is a land- mark in fishing history precisely because "[Walton] established a benchmark and ideal of angling as a lyric, pastoral and philosophical idyll that has inspired and largely determined angler consciousness to this dayl'3 The first edition of the Angler, published in 1653, was conceived of and written after Walton (1593-1683) moved to the countryside of England, an escape for the Anglican Walton from the social and religious upheaval of the increasingly Puritan-domi- nated London. James Prosek went to England to emlore Walton's world. and in his chronicle of that experience, The Complete Angler (1999), argued (as have others) that Walton's Angler may be read, at least in part, as an Anglican allegory and argument against Puritanism. Whether he intended his work to carry an under- lying message or if the strife of his day simply seeped into his attempt to escape that turmoil by creating an ideal world, there's no denylng Walton's book was popular from the start. Walton saw five editions pub- lished in the thirty years between the first printing and his passing, and continued updating the materi- al for each new edition-he added seven chavters between the first and second printings alone.

SUMMER 2003 19 It was the fifth edition, first published in 1676, which includ- McGuane took the idea one step further, feeling that ed a second work titled "Being Instructions How to Angle for " . . . learned, equitable Izaak Walton, by demonstrating how a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream," written by Charles watchfulness and awe may be taken within from the natural Cotton (1630-1687), a good friend of Walton's. Emulating world, has much to tell us; that is, less about how to catch fish Walton's writing style, Cotton examined fly-fishing techniques than about how to be thankful that we may catch fish. He tells in depth and is actually the one who first encouraged anglers us how to live."9 And Arnold Gingrich frequently thumbed "to fish fine, and far off? It is this edition that is usually through the pages of his 1653 replica editions simply to "be reprinted today, and not just because of Cotton's contribution; transported on a trip to never-never land, east of now and west in The Compleat Angler 1653-1967: A New Bibliography, author of nowhere."lO Bernard S. Horne suggested the fifth version's popularity "may Whatever the reason, I suppose in the end it's no less sur- in part be due to Walton's addition of Piscator's observations prising that The Compleat Angler has endured than it is that fly on happiness, thankfulness, and contentment."5 fishing itself, rarely the most efficient way to actually catch a After Walton's death, The CompleatAnglerwent out of print, fish, is still such a vital part of the angling landscape. Or that a only to resurface in 1750. In his preface to that publication, edi- museum dedicated to that pursuit not only exists but has tor Moses Browne wrote, "but it [The Compleat Angler] hav- grown and prospered for thirty-five years now. Here's to hop- ing, by an unaccountable Neglect, become of late Years diffi- ing that all three, improbable survivors as they may be, are still cult to obtain . . . it was thought the recovering it in such a Way, around in another 350 years. would be reckoned a very acceptable Servicel'6 It would appear he was right, because the book has been in print continuously ever since. When Horne compiled his bibliography, he ENDNOTES remarked at the time that the Angler had been reprinted "some three hundred and eighty-five times."7 Horne's book was pub- I. Mark Twain, from "The Disappearance of Literature:' an address lished in 1970, and the number of reprints has undoubtedly given at the dinner of the Nineteenth Century Club, 20 November 1900, increased in the thirty years since. www.boondocksnet.com/twaintexts/speeches/mts~dislit.html. 2. Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton, The Compleat Angler (New York: Which brings us back to the question of why this book had Random House, 1998), 25. enjoyed such lasting popularity. After all, the mystique of fly 3. Gordon Wickstrom, time line, The History of Fzshing for Trout with fishing is pretty firmly entrenched in the collective psyche Artificial Flies in Britain and Amertca: A Chronology of Five Hundred Ears these days; more people attempt the sport because of Norman (Boulder, Cola.: D&K Printing, 1999), millennial edition. Maclean's A River Runs through It than because they've stum- 4. Walton and Cotton, 300. bled upon Walton, and the sense of fly fishing as a rarified and 5. Bernard S. Horne, The Compleat Angler 1653-1967: A New Bibliography (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1970), 20. contemplative activity is now used to sell everything from cars 6. Moses Browne, preface, in Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton, The to investment companies. And yet the Angler is still around. Compleat Angler (London: Henry Kent, 1754). vii-viii. In his introduction to Random House's Modern Library 7. Horne, Compleat Angler, 20. edition of Angler (1998), Howell Raines suggested, "The book 8. Howell Raines, introduction, in Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton, The has lasted so long because fishing has a mystery at its heart. Compleat Angler (New York: Random House, 1998),xv. The quest for fish mirrors a more ambitious quest, that search 9. Thomas McGuane, The Longest Silence (New York: Random House, 1999)>234. for dreaming contentment that kept Walton on the stream well lo. Arnold Gingrich, The Fishing in Print (New York: Winchester Press, into the last decade of his ninety year^."^ Author Thomas 1974)>29.

THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER -- NOTES AND COMMENT - A Portrait of the New Fly Fisher by Gordon M. Wickstrom

HERE'S A NEW BREED of fly fisher out there on the hard physical work on the job. We might, therefore, expect the water, casting to a new beat of that same old yearning for new fly fisher to be a model of health and endurance. In any Tthe trout to come to the fly. It helps to understand this case, it's certain that this portrait ought to be suffused with new breed if one can remember or, better still, has been one of energy and athletic drive. that old gang of anglers who threw his or her flies down the decades before, let's say, 1960, after which the big changes began. It's worth pausing now to draw a portrait of that new The new flv fisher commonlv has a different relations hi^ to angler as she wades into the third millennium. Let me try to her job than did anglers of the past whose eight-hour day usu- depict her. ally ended at 5:30, with time left over to hit the evening rise on the local stream. No longer. Boomers are now working god

knows how manv hours with no time for anvthinz, u but the iob Male and female created He them, and to each He assigned and guilt about their neglect of everything else. And most fam- his and her proper tasks. And so, until our own time, up until ilies are driven by not one but two of these all-consuming, about 1960, men did the fishing and women stayed home and demanding jobs. did the cooking. And that was that. Their interest in fishing is intense, but with less time to do But now, gender has entered as a factor in fly fishing. Men it. Too often the year's fishing is crammed into one or two and women are inextricably mixed on the stream and are con- frantic vacation trips-nothing casual about it anymore. The founding my very effort at a portrait by the difficulty that gen- image is one of haste and stress. der makes for our language. Old-timers will want to cling to the comforts of the familiar title "fisherman," even as it fails to acknowledge the great number of women who have taken to In self-defense our fly fisher spends bits and pieces of sal- long rods with enthusiasm and skill. Women are leaving their vaged time in virtual fishing. With the computer a part of his mark on the sport in no uncertain terms, but many writers tackle, he works the Internet, watches videos, goes to fly-fish- don't know by what term to call them. What shall I write: he ing shows, reads books and magazines, collects trout or she? "Fisherman" or just "fisher?" Does the equivocal term art-every imaginable substitute. Yes, he fishes deep into his "fly fisher" cover all bets satisfactorily? For that matter, is this imagination where he has learned to find satisfaction. He has to be a portrait of a man or a woman? discovered that fishing is probably the most rewarding of all sports just to think about and talk about. It is as intellectual- ly challenging as he cares to make it. It's also inexhaustible. Where the fisherman of old tended to stay close to home waters, mastering them and in more than a few cases making those waters fagous, the new fly fisher in our portrait rang& Being at home in the virtual is but one of the uses of the the world over in search of wild and infinitely various fish and new technology that permeates modern life and angling. In a adventure. Theodore Gordon stayed close to his Neversink in technological culture, angling finds its place. Some might the Catskills and Vincent Marinaro to his Letort Spring Run, regret angling's submission to the satisfactions of technology, but our new angler has comparatively little confidence or but there appears to be no retreat. Note that it leaves not a sin- interest in local waters: Mongolia, Tierra del Fuego, and Africa gle line of regret on the face of the angler in our portrait. are too powerful a lure, to say nothing of the closer fish-facto- ry tailwaters created by the post-World War I1 reservoirs. The new angler, spending more of his income on his fishing than But on closer examination, there may be a few lines of regret ever before, is commonly seen on airport concourses lugging after all. The new fly fisher may be uneasy about the future of rod tubes and duffels toward a plane to the remotest corners of his sport and look backward into the annals of fishing to find the world. assurance and inspiration for the present. He tends to be more I suspect that this venturing forth all over the place is under- historically minded than his predecessors, as though looking lain by a deep anxiety about what our angler feels is happen- forward into the past might reveal secrets of value . . . c.f., the ing close to home, that his home waters are fast being urban- spey rod and cast. ized out from under him. The irony that what supports his urban life and times is exactly that which is destroying his fish- ing may further contribute to his anxiety. This interest in the past extends to tackle making and Shadow falls across the portrait. innovation. There's more respect today for, and interest in, what the forebears did and how they did it. If they made rods of hickory and cast lines of horsehair and silk, why should we Many today try to keep in shape by working out on fantas- not explore what they did in the spirit of both honor to them tic machines in the gym. Few, like the old-timers, stay tough by and profit to us?

SUMMER 2003 21 The result is that the new fly fisher knows more about tack- for more and ever bigger fish, though it's fair to say that le, ancient and modern, than anglers of the past. The new fly increasingly anglers here and there are rejecting that compul- fisher is smart. (How does one draw smart into a portrait?) sion and seeking out more intimate angling pleasures.

Then, too, schooled by excellent modern research and pub- But there's something else in the expression on the new lication, she has become a capable student of aquatic insect life angler's" face. I think I see a new tolerance in his view of things." (the entomology of most old-timers was painfully inade- No longer does he spurn all fish but trout or salmon. He's dis- quate). covered warm-water fishing" and its undoubted rewards. He's One thing leads to another and the new fly fisher is now one eager to go after exotic fish of all kinds that may not have seen of a legion of fly tyers, most of them superbly skilled. In this a flv before. He's more "genuinelv interested in fish for their golden age of fly tying, she knows her flies, alive and as imita- own sake than were his predecessors. At the same time, he's tion. Her complex and detailed fly boxes, entomologically cor- showing a more tolerant attitude toward a wider variety of rect, would confound with amazement the older angler. fishing techniques. His mind plays more freely and actively over the entire idea offishing. He is less and less dogmatic and more pragmatic, more "scientific." But amid all this latter-day sophistication, there lies a seri- Still, in his willingness to acknowledge and make the most ous lacuna, a crucial flaw, in the new fly fisher's illtellectual of change, he hopes deep down that fishing will hang on as it equipment. He appears to know little and feel less for that has through the ages and resist changing at its core. If fishing barefoot boy of legend, with his willow pole and bobber, mak- must change, let it be at the edges. ing his way down the country lane to the old fishing hole. Few grandfathers, indeed, go back far enough anymore to recall that elemental country fishing. The rural, country experience A deepening gloom in the background of this portrait is the is no longer ours and is foreign, if not forgotten, to our new new fly fisher's political context. In a world where, like it or not, natures. For the new fisher, graphite has become as natural as everything is deeply political, our fly fisher resists thinking of willow, and nylon as natural as gut. His tackle and its uses have her angling as in any way politically determined. Politics too become the expression of industry, not of personal hand often feel nasty. Anglers nod to politics by a token membership craftsmanship. His new tackle has lost all innocence and is in Trout Unlimited, itself prevented from effective political almost brutally efficient. action bv its contract with the devil IRS for its nonvrofit status. I want to suggest that another and deepening shadow on the portrait is our subject's scarcely conscious understanding that This new angler believes in experts and their instruction. angling in its deepest nature is a conservative endeavor and There is little time for trial and error, lonely intuition, or the impulse. Fishing is elemental in its meaning as food for the school of hard knocks in which to become a polished angler. He's preservation of life. Fishing tends to be solitary, private, com- in a hurry. Time is short, and he's willing to pay for shortcuts to petitive, territorial, and traditional-all the ancient values of competence and success. Most noticeably he turns to another the true conservative. new breed of angler, to professional guides to help him fish. On the other hand, this same conservative angler finds her- self drawn to and feeling resvonsible to issues of the environ- ment, toward the healtl; an2 welfare of fish and their waters This portrait of the new fly fisher is interchangeable among everwhere. It's do or die to vreserve them. anglers. One angler will look pretty much like another. His This work for preservation and nurture crosses lines of clothes-from waders to vest to hat, inside and out-have property, is accomplished only by social and political action, become more costume than clothing; they have been severely and is public in its values-and at the expense of the conserv- regularized and standardized by "the industry." Sameness is ative values of property and privacy. everywhere, with little or no room for the memorable eccen- Our new fly fisher is being tossed on the horns of a terrible tricities that we used to see and admire in many old-timers. dilemma, between the competing social-political issues of con- servative and liberal ideologies. He, too often, simply collapses in face of the complexity and contradictions of the dilemma, No creel is seen hanging on the fly fisher in this portrait. He gives up on politics, and becomes passively complicit in the has no interest in dead fish, having by now been thoroughly demise of his beloved fishing. inculcated into releasing his catch. If getting food was once the raison d'&tre of all fishing, our new man or woman tends to assume that all food now comes, not from the field, but prop- So there it is. Is this portrait complete? Is it finished? Not erly from the market. A trout belongs in the stream. likely. Change is always on the way. We dare not, I think, be optimistic about changes on our horizon. At the same time, we hope for the best. Perhaps a new portrait will soon need to be Still, he wants to catch as many and as big fish as he can. drawn. We hope that we will be able to recognize the subject as Where T. S. Eliot's nominal man of the twentieth century J. the real thing, an even more accomplished and versatile fly Alfred Prufrock "measured out his life in coffee spoons," our fisher, male or female, with whom we'd like to go fishing. new angler measures out his in "twenty-inchers." The portrait reveals a certain smallness about him, this competitive need

22 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER BOOK REVIEW A Homeric Odyssey by John Mundt

He painted when things were just right, but he fished always, and a more successful fisherman, I have yet to meet. -Boyer Gonzales, friend of Winslow Homer, quoted in Demarest

ODYSSEY 1. A long adventurous voyage or trip; 2. An intellectual or spiritual quest. -American Heritage College Dictionary, 4th edition, 2002

HE ANCIENT WORD ODYSSEY mary angling and painting destinations: aptly describes the international the Adirondacks; Gloucester, Massachu- Twanderings of modern-day artist, setts; Quebec; Cuba; Florida; Bermuda; angler, and ~useummember Robert J. and Prout's Neck, Maine. Demarest pro- Demarest. The Homer of antiquity chron- vides a clear and concise overview of icled Ulysses's (Odysseus's) ten-year jour- each destination and the effect each had ney home after the Trojan War, but sev- America's Premier Artist/Angler on Homer as a person and professional eral millennia later Bob Demarest was artist. inspired to devote four years of his life Readers of The American Fly Fisher retracing the far-reaching footsteps of will recall that the Spring 2002 issue con- American icon, artist, and angler tained a brief essay by Demarest with the Winslow Homer (1836-1910). same title as his book. That essay was In Traveling with Winslow Homer: originally intended to be a chapter titled America's Premier Artist/Angler, readers "Homer as Angler," but after reading it are taken on a fascinating journey with several times Demarest realized that the Demarest as he personally explores the information had alreadv been uresented actual places Winslow Homer himself throughout the manusiript aAd would sought out to provide both inspiration therefore be redundant. He also men- for his brush and suitable prey to which tioned that "the more I considered the to cast a fly (not necessarily in that man and his love of fishing, the more I order). It was this interesting juxtaposi- realized that the fishing aspect of his life tion of angler and artist that struck me was essential to understanding him."3 as I began reading a work that could not ing boundaries of art text or angling Traveling with Winslow Homer is well be classified in the simple terms of a title. He saw-as many before him had illustrated with full-color reproductions sporting book or an art book. The not-that Homer's travel itinerary of Homer's works contrasted with themes of timeless art, distant travel, appeared to have been influenced as Demarest's photographs of the same vis- thrilling discoveries, and the allure of much, if not more, by fishing opportuni- tas. These visual comuarisons let vou see angling are all equally represented in this ties than for their value as painting what Homer saw and how the imagery full-color coffee-table volume. venues. To further demonstrate the was construed via uaint. I found it In the preface, Demarest describes his influence angling had on Homer's trav- intriguing to be provided with the wide-ranging research effort as an odys- els, Demarest refers to a letter Homer ouuortunitv to deduce what Homer sey and recounts his personal epiphany. wrote from Florida to his brother &&ht havi been thinking when he "A hike to the small waterfall that occurs Arthur: "Delightful climate here about painted. When reading this book, one along the course of the outlet from as cool as our September-Fishing the could derive further benefit from having Mink Pond was the single experience best in America as far as I can find . . . I companion volumes-such as Gordon that convinced me that I would attempt shall fish until the 20th then my guide Hendrick's The Life and Work of Winslow to track down the painting sites that has another engagement and I shall take Homer (Abrams, 1979) or Patricia Junker inspired Homer. After finding and sit- my own boat &work half the time & fish and Sara Burns's Winslow Homer: Artist ting on the same rock that he sat upon a on my own hook. I have not done any and Angler (Thames & Hudson, 2002)- century ago, and painting the same business this fall so far & I shall only within reach. for the simule reason that scene (Waterfall, Adirondacks), I deter- paint to see if I am up to it & with a Demarest could not include reproduc- mined that I would search out interest- chance of paying my expenses-."2 To tions of every Homer painting he had ing and contributive Homerania every- put this in perspective, of the eight seen or mentioned in his text, and the where he wentl'l known trips Homer made to Florida, he curious reader mav wish to view the ref- It is Demarest's experiences as both a appears to have painted on only three of erenced images after reading about professional artist and impassioned them. them. Sadly, for posterity's sake, many of angler that breathe life into the pages The book follows Homer's life from Homer's works remain elusive. A com- and move the book beyond the confin- childhood through his travels to his pri- plete catalog of his works has never been

SUMMER 2003 23 CONTRIBUTORS

I Alliron Bell Dick Bell, a retired Connecticut lawyer, is vice chair of Yale-New Haven Hospital, a member of the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, vice published, though rumors persist of iso- president of the Connecticut River Salmon lated efforts to do so. Association, and a trustee of the Atlantic Salmon As a result of immersing himself in Federation. He has authored law review articles on the world of Winslow Homer for more such disparate topics as 'kid Rain" (1983), poisoned than four solid years, Bob Demarest air in the northeast United States and maritime provides us with valuable-almost per- Canada from Ohio Valley power plants ("The Cross of 1 sonal-insight into Homer's life. He Gold:' 19971, an U~SUCC~SS~U~will contest in often defies conventional wisdom with Connecticut by William Jennings Bryan, and "The reflections such as this. Court Martial of Roger Enos" (1999, zooo), a serious defection from Benedict Arnold's 1775 march to The Homer that I came howby Quebec. His book, Whoops for the Wind and Other ing to "his placesn-fishing in his lakes and rivers, and wal~ngin his paths, is not the Tales of the Walton Fishing Club, appeared in 1999 through Tantivy Press. He is cur- misanthrope that has all too often been rently working on another fishing dub history for the Potatuck Club in Newtown, written about. His gentleness comes Connecticut. through in his countless anecdotes; his humor and self-reliance obviously stood Ed James McCullough is a lifelong resident of northern him well. His adventurousness and wan- derlust is evidenced by his travels. His love 7 Michigan, an avid outdoorsman, and a former high of his family has been recounted many school teacher and soccer and ski coach. Currently, times in the more lengthy biographies.4 he teaches English and education courses at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, Michigan. He Winslow Homer achieved immortali- is the founder of the Bear River Writers' Conference, ty through the genius of his brush- an annual spring event on the shores of Walloon Lake strokes. Today it would require millions (www.lsa.umich.edu/bearriver). McCullough lives in of dollars to acquire a Homer on that Petoskey with his wife and two daughters, Meghan rare occasion when a piece reaches the and Madison, horses Cash and Teddy, and their auction block. However, it is my belief I English setter, Ripley. that those who fly fish can make an Kathy-10 Wargm inimitable connection with this great ~d wargin launched his career by photographing - - - - man and his art by drawing upon the major campaigns and images for advertising clients sights, sounds, scents, and textures of such as GMC, Anheuser-Busch, Caterpillar Tractor, one's own experiences afield. Arctic Cat, and Monsanto. He has been published in numerous magazines and publications, and has pub- lished several books, including Michigan: The Spirit of John Mundt serves on the Museum's board the Land, The Great Lakes Cottage Book, and, most of trustees and is co-chair of the library recently, Voelker's Pond: A Robert Traver Legacy. Ed's committee of the Anglers' Club ofNew York. stock photography library holds an in-depth collec- tion of images from the Great Lakes and abroad, serv- ing design, advertising, and editorial clients world- wide. His fine art images are held in both private and with Winslow Homer: corporate collections, where they inspire viewers to America's Premier Artist/Angler is become more aware of the natural beauty that surrounds us all. Ed lives in northern in hard- Or softcover Michigan with his wife, Kathy-jo Wargin, an award-winning author of several chil- through Trees dren's books, along with their two favorite outdoor buddies: their son Jake and the LLC; P.O. Box 280, New York, NY family dog, salmon. 10032. Tel: (212) 781-6670, or on-line Sam Sandoe at www.winslowhomer.org. Gordon M. Wickstrom is native to Boulder, I Colorado, a World War I1 navy veteran, and a grad- uate of the University of Colorado. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and is professor of drama ENDNOTES emeritus at Franklin and Marshall College. He 1. Robert J. Demarest, Traveltng wzth Wtnslow retired to his native Boulder in 1991. He has written Homer: Amertca's Premier Arttst/Angler (New York: for Gray's Sporting Journal, Fly Tyer, Angleh Journal, Apples Trees Productions, LLC, 2002), 13. The Art of Angling Journal, Wild on the Fly, 2. Demarest, 143. Streamside, and is a not infrequent contributor to 3. Personal correspondence with author, g The American Fly Fisher. He has published a popu- March 2003. lar linear display of the history of fly fishing and 4. Demarest, 183. currently publishes The Bouldercreek Angler, "a gazette for those who fish," and The Bouldercreek Actor, "a gazette for those who make theatre." His Notes from an Old Fly Book was published by the University Press of Colorado in 2001. His Up Stream into Bright Water will be published by the University of New Mexico Press in January 2004.

24 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER EW retailer or writefor a copy of ourfuu-color ca &Thomas 627 Barton Road Greenfield, MA 01301 774-5436 Fax: (413) 774-5437 www.thomasandthomas.co Diana Siebold

Jeff Wagner having a great time displaying auction items.

Cleveland DinnerIAuction Salmon and Steelhead Guide, Sunny- folks came by our booth to say they had brook Trout Club, and WeGotGear. We visited the Museum-more than I can We had a terrific outing in Cleveland thank committee members George Mc- recall from any East Coast show. This this year! The April 3 dinner was a first- Cabe and Jeff Wagner for assisting in the made me realize that our reach and time sellout, with 104 attendees and a auction (see photos!). exposure are truly national. Most folks record 34 new members. Dinner Chair We would also like to thank the are stunned to find out that the Woods King I11 rallied the troops once Chagrin Valley Hunt Club; our host at American Museum of Fly Fishing is in more-along with committee members the club, Frank I. Harding; and General Vermont. We were also visited by more George McCabe, Jim Sanfilippo, and Jeff Manager James A. Misencik and his very than a few of our guests who faithfully Wagner-to bring a special evening to capable staff for a spectacular job. We attend our annual, late-fall winery din- attendees. The event was again held at look forward to next year's event with ner. It was a real pleasure to both see the extraordinary Chagrin Valley Hunt much anticipation. them again and find them chomping at Club, and our sponsors included Baker -DIANA SIEBOLD the bit for information about this year's & Hostetler LLP, William Garapick and dinner! Dr. Karen Barnes, and Dick and Ann Marin County This show was a bit smaller than some Whitney. Grant Thornton graciously Fly-Fishing Show of the others, so I was able to wander sponsored the table wine for the evening. inside and pop into a demonstration or The evening was a great success for the Besides our usual three fly-fishing two. Me1 and Fanny Krieger were in the Museum, and our guests were very lively trade shows this past winter-Denver, booth opposite ours, and Me1 graciously under the baton of auctioneer Scott Marlborough, and Somerset-we decid- offered to have Gary or me join one of Mihalic, who routinely joked with the ed to make the trip to San Rafael, his classes (but we were there to work, crowd and coaxed them out of a few of California, to test the waters on the West not play). We met Lori Ann Murphy and their hard-earned dollars. Donors to the Coast. The Fly Fishing Show, which was Joe Humphreys, who were there teaching auction included Stan Bazan, James held February 28 through March 2, seminars, and got to enjoy a beverage Carey, Deep Springs Trout Club, the proved interesting for us. with them at the end of the day. Val Lyons Press, Marion Graven, Mad River Given the show was three thousand Atkinson, our photographer for the Outfitters and Brian Fleshig, North Coast miles away, it was amazing how many Heritage Award Dinner honoring Yvon

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SUMMER 2003 27 Chouinard last November, was in atten- dance and stopped to say hello, as did A. K. Best, who was there showing Californians how to tie flies. The event was held at the Marin County Convention Center, a Frank Lloyd Wright design, and the grounds were ideal for the show. A beautiful lagoon behind the building was laden with a diverse bird population, the flow- ers were peaking, trees were in bloom, and we absolutely (according to the locals) had the three best days they had had in a while-70 degrees and sunny! This was an especially nice treat for us, because when we departed the Albany Airport on Wednesday, it was 20 degrees. (When we returned, I had a half-inch of ice encasing my Toyota, and it took two men half an hour just to get into the car.) We wish to thank Barry Serviente and Chuck Furimsky of the Fly Fishing Show for our complimentary booth space, which was especially nice, right next to the door overlooking the lagoon. -DIANA SIEBOLD Committee members George McCabe and J. D. Wagner playing Vanna White during the live auction.

Trustee Woods King III consulting with another guest on exactly how big thatjish was.

28 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Back in Print by Popular Demand!

$29 95 plus shipping Call (802) 362-3300 A Treasury of Reels Available once again from the American Museum of Fly Fishing, A Treasury of Reels chronicles one of the largest and finest public collections of fly reels in the world. Brought together in this richly diverse and popular book, which includes more than 750 reels spanning nearly two centuries of British and American reel- making, are antique, classic, and modern reels; those owned by presidents, enter- tainers, novelists, and angling luminaries; and reels owned and used by everyday anglers. Accompanied by Bob O'Shaughnessy's expert photography, author Jim Brown details the origins of this fascinating piece of technology, from a 13th-century Chinese painting depicting a fisherman using a rod and reel to later craftsmen like Vom Hofe, Billinghurst, and Leonard.

Out of print for almost ten years, A Treasury of Reels is a must-have for collec- tors and enthusiasts alike. It can be ordered for $29.95, plus postage and han- dling, either through our website at www.amff.com or by contacting the Museum at (802) 362-3300. Proceeds from the sale of this book directly benefit the Museum.

SUMMER 2003 29 The Recent Donations In the Library American Museum Tom Collins of Missoula, Montana, Thanks to the following publishers for donated "Trout Fliesn-twenty color their donations of recent titles that have of Fly Fishing plateslprints of fishing flies and materi- become part of our collection (titles Box 42, Manchester,Vermont 05254 als enclosed in presentation package cre- were published in 2003 unless otherwise Tel: 802-362-3300. Fax: 802-362-3308 ated by G. Don Ray. E. Hunter Stone I1 noted): EMAIL: [email protected] of Denver, Colorado, sent us two rods: a Frank Amato Publications, Inc., sent WEBSITE: www.amff.com "De Bell" Deluxe (a three-piece, 8-foot us Thomas J. Sholseth's How Fish Work: impregnated bamboo fly rod with one Fish Biology ei. Angling Jim Bedford and JOIN! extra tip) and a Spenser rod (a two- Tony Pagliei's Grand River (2002); Bruce Membership Dues (per annum) piece, 7-foot, 4-ounce, quintuple-sided Staples's Trout Country Flies from INDIVIDUAL bamboo fly rod with one extra tip). Greater Yellowstone Area Masters (2002); Associate $35 Chris Sandford of West Sussex, United Jim Schollmeyer's Patent Patterns: 1,500 Sustaining $60 Benefactor 5125 Kingdom, donated two privately pub- Unique and Innovative Fly Patterns; and Patron $250 lished books: The Best of British Baits Harry Murray's Trout Stream Fly- GROUP (1997) and The Best of British Baits, Supp- Fishing. Club $50 lement One (2001). Daniel J.Cherrington Stackpole Books sent us Leon Links's Trade $50 of Gloucestershire, England, sent us Ned Tying Flies with CDC: The Fisherman's Membership dues include four issues of Terry's The Great Trout of Lake Pedder Miracle Feather (2002); John Bailey's The American Fly Fisher. Please send your (Artemis Publishing, year unknown). Trout at Ten Thousand Feet: Reflections of payment to the Membership Director Paul Schullery of Yellowstone Park, a Passionate Fisherman (20011~oo~);and and include your mailing address. The Wyoming, donated a copy of Montana: Jim McLennan's Fly-Fishing Western Museum is a member of the American The Magazine of Western History (sum- Trout Streams. And TranZac Publishing Association of Museums, the American mer 2002, special fly-fishing issue). And Company sent us Thomas Neil Zacoi's Association of State and Local History, the Trustee Man Poole of Orange, Connec- Flies, Ties 6 Lies, Including Chauncy New England Association of Museums, ticut, donated a Hardy Brothers catalog, Lively's Favorite Patterns. the Vermont Museum and Gallery Hardy's Anglers' Guide,53rd edition, c. 1930. Alliance, and the International Association - of Sports Museums and Halls of Fame. We are a nationally accredited, nonprofit, edu- cational institution chartered under the laws of the state of Vermont. SUPPORT! As an independent, nonprofit institution, the American Museum of Fly Fishing LETTER relies on the generosity of public-spirited individuals for substantial support. We ask that you give our museum serious consideration when planning for gifts and I'm really enjoying each issue of The American Fly Fisher. Since moving to bequests. Lenox, I've missed being near the Museum, and getting the journal is especially nice. You're doing a great job, and I like the balance of technical and narrative, and the diversity of art and layout. Available at $4 per copy: I had some fun with page lo of the Winter zoo3 issue. The "Great Fishing" Volume 6, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 photo shows a catch of about sixty-five trout, and Paul Schullery's text gives Volume 7, Number 3 Hewitt's account that" . . . we laid out both catches on the ground . . . he had 165 Volume 8, Number 3 and I had 162 . . . " That's a total of 327 fish, more than five times the catch shown Volume 9, Numbers 1, 2,3 in the photo. Hewitt and the professional fisherman must have had a good-sized Volume lo, Number 2 1914 pickup truck to carry that load the 6 miles from where they fished back to Volume 11, Numbers 1, 2,3, 4 Old Faithful Inn. And we hope the inn guests were hungry. Volume 13, Number 3 -Ted Ferree Volume 15, Number 2 Lenox, Massachusetts Volume 16, Numbers 1, 2,3 Volume 17, Numbers 1, 2,3 Volume 18, Numbers 1,2,4 Volume 19, Numbers 1,2,3,4 20, he anniual me]mbership meeting of the American Volume Numbers 1,2,3,4 --a - .----- , Volume 21, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 I~CUI~~of Fly Fishing will be held at 9:oo A.M. on Volume 22, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 1, :2003, at the Wilburton Inn, Volume 23, Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 Sat iber Volume 24, Numbers i,2,4 anchesrter, Vermont. Volume 25, Numbers 1, 2,3, 4 Volume 26, Numbers 1, 2,4 .19hc es' annual meeting will follow Volume 27,Numbers 1, 2,3,4 Volume 28, Numbers 1,2,3 immec thereaf ter at the same location. Volume 29, Numbers 1, 2 These photos from the Tamarack Resort in Millbrook, New York, are courtesy of Peter Corbin.

SUMMER 2003 31 Lyons Honored as 2003 Heritage Award Recipient Photos by Enrico Ferorelli

Honoree Nick Lyons captivates the audien~ce with his flair fur teaingfish stories.

ell-known author and publisher Nick Lyons was from someone who caught his first trout, sixtyfive years ago9by selected as the Museum's zoo3 Heritage Award gigging it with a bare Carlisle hookand then lying in his teeth that he'd caught it on a worm, I've always Ionged for a little more pres- W recipient for his long and unwavering suppott of tige and another foot of drag-free float. the Museum and for the indelible mark he has made on the * way we read, think, and write about the sport of fly fishing. It has always been tempting to accept the old judge Robert The Heritage Award was established in 1997 to honor individ- Traver's comment that it's not that fishing is so terribly important, but that most of the other things men do are equally unimportaat. uals whose commitment to the Museum, the sport of fly fish- The other things of course are sometimes of momentous impor- ing, and natural resources conservation sets standards to tance, and I'm afraid it is sentimental to think they arenSt.Which which we all should aspire. Past winners include Leigh H. doesn't detract &om the gift fly fishing offers. Perkins, Gardner L. Grant, Bud Lilly, Nathanid Pryar Reed, For it is a hapn, aeparate world, cunningly contrived, built of enough keen knowledge to know that Paraleptophlebia isnDta foot George W. Harvey, Lewis W. Coleman2Foster Bam, and Yvon fungus, knowledge about cul de canard and pheasant tails and Chouinard. Comparaduns and hx tippets, and memories of a first trout and a The Award dinner was held on April 23 at the Yale Club in last, and the sight of the first plumes of skunk cabbage wt of the brown earth, the spectral light and delicate green of the willows in New York City. With one hundred in attendance, our guests April, Hendricksons begmning to pop out and then float down were treated to evening of animated remarks by Nick Lyons river liilittle dun sailboats, circles on a flat river at dusk, my old and keynote speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winner Howell Raines. friend Sandy's quiet hum when he's got a good fish on. Mr. Raines offered thoughts aird rerniniacences of his good Perhaps we just like to play Huck Finn, shuffle upstream through our midlife crises, and walk for awhile not on pavement friend and gave a superb introduction to our honoree. but on mud. Honoree Nick Lyons was last to the podium with his own Tonight, itasme who should be honoring the Museum, custodi- remarks for the crowd, excerpted here: an of all our happy fly-fishing dreams a~ldour memory, and the sport itself, which for so long and so well has indelibly brushed my Last year I caught pre~iselyone trout--on a no. 1.8 Daiehi dry fly heart with freshness and wit and wonder, and brightened my often hook embedded in a chunkofBoar"s Head premium-grade smoked darkened spirits. ham. The natural, not the imitation, So I am embarraw4 to my boots by this hanor from the American Museum of Fly Fishing, The Museum is proud to include Nick Lyons among our though America has always been a generous country. In England, Heritage Award honorees. I'd have been shot, unless it was dry ham, fished upstream. e It's not the first time I've fallen so low, but what ran you expect

32 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Barton T. Jones swears to Chairman of i 3oard Bob Scott that thefish Keynote speaker Howell Raines, author of Fly really was th~.- .g. Fishing through the Midlife Crisis, speaks highly of his goodfiiend and honoree Nick Lyons.

Old friends Ben Sherman and Tom Earnhardt share a private laugh with Nick.

SUMMER 2003 33 Trustee Lynn Hitschler and her husband Anthony took the train from Philadelphia to honor Nick.

President David Walsh, Chairman of the Board Bob Scott, and Executive Director Gary Tanner present Nick with the cus- tom-made Heritage Award.

Is thea doctor in the house? Drs. Mark, Gar% adBea Sherman mjoying Nick's speech with Mark's son, doctar-to-be Seth,

Author/artist James Prosek raises his glass and enjoys the moment with Anthony May.

34 THE AMERICAN FLY FISHER Ben Sherman and Mark Sherman keep Jane Cooke in very good company!

Three of the Museum's oldest friends-Gardner Grant, Ernie Schwiebert, and Foster Barn-share a toast.

2GymDe. qedm-19wdl Raines wizh Fb& w$g fiy$%;ylzame ku2a-~abad-larrd-wi$e Jeanie Kashgarian and Ellen Grant enjoying liba- &am bid agahti wch othwk@ J, D. tions before dinner. Waggar bmb~arod She wQn

SUMMER 2003 35 Club members enjoy private access to over six miles of pruce Creek, Penns Creek, Warriors Mark Run and the Little Juniata River as well as use of exclusive streamside cabins and cottages. A Credit to Our Sport

Margot Page

en years ago, the American Museum of Fly large operating budget, its publications would be the Fishing was granted accreditation by the envy of many larger institutions and definitely enhance TAmerican Association of Museums (AAM)-a its mission." tribute to the hard work of the staff, volunteers, and Further, they stated, "There are a number of chal- trustees in place at that time. As stated by AAM, "The lenges the museum now faces. These include creation achievement of AAM accreditation signifies and recog- of a more substantial funding base and the need to nizes excellence within the museum community, to expand the physical facilities. . . . As pointed out in the governments and outside agencies, and among the report, the Museum has the potential to become the American public. Developed and operated by museum world's maior research center for flv fishing." If the professionals, the program reflects, reinforces, and pro- cooperation between staff and board continues, devel- motes the best practices in museums and the strictest opment programs gel, and the quality of the exhibits accountability to the public museums serve." Of the and programs continue to improve, the future of the thousands of museums across the country, only about institution looks verv, bright."u 750 are accredited. Well, here we are, ten years later, readying ourselves In their concluding remarks, the visiting committee for a required reaccreditation review, and I must say of AAM that did the final, on-site evaluation of the the future looks very bright indeed. We are the world's Museum back in 1993 noted: "The institution has iden- major research center for fly fishing, we are meeting the tified its mission and is meeting it in an exemplary challenges of funding and space, and the quality of our fashion. The transition from an operation created by exhibits and programs just keeps getting better. I do sportsmen at the Orvis Company to a professional hope you, our members, are as proud to be a part of operation with growing collections and programs is this place as I am. obvious, especially over the past several years." GARYTANNER And about the journal you are reading right now: "In spite of the fact that the institution does not have a THEAMERICAN MUSEUM OF FLY FISHING, a nationally accredited, nonprofit, education- al institution dedicated to preserving the rich heritage of fly fishing, was founded in Manchester, Vermont, in 1968. The Museum serves as a repository for, and conservator to, the world's largest collection of angling and angling-related objects. The Museum's col- lections and exhibits provide the public with thorough documentation of the evolution of fly fishing as a sport, art form, craft, and in- dustry in the United States and abroad from the sixteenth century to the present. Rods, reels, and flies, as well as tackle, art, books, manuscripts, and photographs form the ma- jor components of the Museum's collections. The Museum has gained recognition as a unique educational institution. It supports a publications program through which its na- tional quarterly journal, The Amertcan Fly Fisher, and books, art prints, and catalogs are regularly offered to the public. The Museum's traveling exhibits program has made it possi- ble for educational exhibits to be viewed across the United States and abroad. The Museum also provides in-house exhibits, related interpretive programming, and research services for members, visiting schol- ars, authors, and students. The Museum is an active, member-orient- ed nonprofit institution. For information please contact: The American Museum of Fly Fishing, P. 0. Box 42, Manchester, Vermont 05254,802-362-3300.